When I left the working world to become a stay-at-home-mom, I imagined the coming days would be spent playing with my adorable baby, making delicious meals, and keeping an immaculate house. The reality was... well... a bit messier and a lot busier. In between changing diapers, quieting crying, and stepping on toys while carrying loads of laundry, I didn’t have much time for anything except my kids.

I soon found that I could fill every spare moment with something. While the baby napped, I scrubbed toilets and floors. While my toddler ate lunch, I grabbed bites of a sandwich, while loading the dishwasher and washing machine. Every night, when my “shift” was up, I would fall into bed exhausted.

Then, one day, when the appeal of the couch overtook me, I remembered how, once upon a time, I used to read during my lunch break at work. I definitely didn’t miss the “work” of my old career, but I did miss the break.

A break: every mother’s secret treat. In that moment, I realized that a lunch break was just what this tired mom needed. From then on, I made an official one hour lunch break part of my every day schedule once my kids were down for a nap or safely busy with their own activity. I made a note of the time and spent the next 60 minutes doing whatever I wanted to.

Some days, I read a magazine. Other days, I surfed the Internet or called a friend. This midday break did wonders for me. When I “clocked” back in to my mom duties, I felt rejuvenated. The rest of my afternoon flew by and I had a little more energy, come evening, to spend with my husband.

Now, my newest hobby, digital scrapbooking, has added a fun element to my lunch break. Without dragging out paper, embellishments, scissors and glue, I can create a beautiful layout (or a few) during my “me” time. Not only do my lunch breaks give me a much needed pickup, they make for a less stressed and happier mommy for my kids.

So, my advice to other busy moms? Take a lunch break!

- Stephanie Yrungaray

Muse: To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation. Not intended to solve the world's problems, another person's problems, or to cover topics completely. One does not have to agree with musings to enjoy them, just as one does not have to be the same as someone else to appreciate who they are.

Just a reminder: Ro is running a contest in her blog that ends on July 28th.

Three grand prize winners will receive a copy of The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman.


Two runner-up winners will receive a $10 gift certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique.


To enter, add a comment to the contest post in Ro's blog. It will be pinned to the top of the blog so that you can see it easily.


In your comment, answer this question: What advice do you have for new digital scrapbookers?


The winner will be announced in Ro's blog so you will need to check back with it to see if you won. The easiest way to do this is to sign up for either the RSS feed or the email alerts.


For complete details, please visit Ro's blog.

SCRAP GIRLS CLUB

Join the Scrap Girls Monthly Club and you can have fun with the newest traditional digital and printable scrapbooking looks while saving! (A $27.94 value for $9.99 or less!)

The Scrap Girls Club contents are released on the 1st day of the month (or the closest business day to the 1st).

With the Scrap Girls Club, you will receive:

1 Collection Biggie
1 Paper Super Mini
1 8.5x11 Sheet of Word Art
1 Embellishment Set
1 Assemble Your Own Zoom Page Set
1 Designer's Choice Item

Layout by Brandy Murry using July's Scrap Girls Club
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Created for you by Brandy Murry

If you prefer not to join a club, the Scrap Girls club contents are available at regular prices in the Boutique. You can easily find them right now by checking the What's New? section of the Boutique.

Note: The Scrap Girls Club contents are always available for sale elsewhere in the Boutique at their regular prices once the associated club month is released. But all club contents are totally brand new, never seen before product releases for each month!

SCRAPSIMPLE CLUB

Join the ScrapSimple Monthly Club and you can enjoy the newest ScrapSimple looks while saving! (A $13.95 value for $6.99 or less!)

The new ScrapSimple Club contents are released on the 15th day of the month (or the closest business day to the 15th).

With the ScrapSimple Club, you will receive:

1 ScrapSimple Paper Template Set
1 ScrapSimple Embellishment or Word Art Template Set
1 Brush Set
2 Designer's Choice Items

A commercially licensed version of the ScrapSimple club is also available here.

Layout by Theresa Kavouras using July's ScrapSimple Club
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Created for you by Trish Yochum and Theresa Kavouras

If you prefer not to join a club, the ScrapSimple club contents are available at regular prices in the Boutique. You can easily find them right now by checking the What's New? section of the Boutique.

Note: The ScrapSimple Club contents are always available for sale in the Boutique at regular prices once the associated club month is released. But all club contents are totally brand new, never-seen-before product releases for each month!

Thank you for the sweet note! I have enjoyed my recent purchase from Scrap Girls a lot! I am working on several projects and they were the "just what I needed" items to get them done. I am newly addicted to digital scrapbooking and I love it! I previously enjoyed traditional scrapbooking, but my last pages in my traditional book are from my daughter's sixth birthday. She is now in her junior year of college! Life got busy and I have no time to drag my supplies out for the day or week to work on my book. Nor did I have the time to be home long enough to let the glue dry! I have now loaded the My Memories Suite software on my laptop and completed three books in the last few weeks. I have scrapped while I have been waiting at ballet class, waiting at orchestra rehearsal and on my lunch break at work. It is so much fun! I made my mom a gorgeous album for Mother's Day and my poor siblings' gifts didn't stand a chance!

You guys are awesome. You've always provided exceptional customer service and I love your newsletters. I always recommend you to friends who are new to digital scrapping.

I love Scrap Girls and recommend it to all of my Photoshop Elements and digital scrapbooking students. I love all of the products I have bought from you and the whole system at Scrap Girls works perfectly, in my opinion.

I'd like to thank you for such a spiritually uplifting website. I appreciate your muses and many of them have touched my life and given me encouragement. I pass on many of the tidbits and stories to my sister in Georgia and she's loved what we've shared. It's so wonderful to have found a website dedicated to something you like that actually has its priorities in place. Thanks and gratitude to the Lord. I really, really can't thank you enough for that.

This kind of excellent customer service is why I look forward to opening my Scrap Girls email every morning! You have so many fun products, reasonable prices and great tutorials. I also enjoy the sense of spirituality that seems to be woven into your company.

I am responding to the letter of "thanks for my business" from Ro. I am very satisfied with all of the purchases that I have made from your company. Angie has helped me several times and has always been speedy and generous with her time. I do not have a single complaint about anything. However, I would like to let you know a few things that I would like you to never change:

Please continue the daily newsletter - it cheers me up to see it in my mailbox each morning.


The examples that you show are what convince me that I cannot live without that item.


I love being able to shop and have my order stay in the boutique day after day until I think I am done. This is such a convenience that I have not seen anywhere else. Love it.


Your products are, without doubt, the best value for the money.


The monthly scrap club is like Christmas each month. What a joy to see the first of the month roll around.


For a novice digital scrapbooker (less than six months) with very limited computer savvy, Angie has been such a help. Sometimes, I feel like starting my email to her with, "Sorry to bother you again, but..." She is always so helpful and never makes me feel stupid. Thank you.

Great job Scrap Girls. I don't shop anywhere else.

I wanted to take the time to commend you for your excellent customer service. It is a nice touch to let the client know that you care! I love your web site. Keep up the great work.

I love the freebies you give in your emails and I enjoy reading your muses so much. They remind me how much God is in control and that there are others out there who love Him also. Thanks for continuing to be honest in those. I have forwarded your emails to a friend and they always seem to hit the spot for one of the two of us.

Weekly Layout Winners

Layout by ZachandAvasMom
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Commercial license versions of AMC_Thoughtful Font are also available.

Layout by kidsrgr8
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Commercial license versions of ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Date Seals, ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Painted Plastic 6401 Super Biggie and ScrapSimple Tools - Styles: Sanded Edge 6301 are also available.

Want to see your layouts make an appearance in the Scrap Girls newsletters?

Simply post your digital or paper layouts that use Scrap Girls products in our online gallery, and if we choose your layout to be featured in the newsletter, you'll win a prize! To be considered, don't forget to list the Scrap Girls products that you used in your layout.

Congratulations to this week's selectees. Please email [email protected] to get your gift!

Want to see past winners of the Weekly Layout Contest? Visit the Weekly Layout Winners gallery on our message board here!

Contest Winners

June Message Board Game Winners:

Due to the significant amount of participation required for this game, we've altered the prize scale slightly to reward all nine message board members who completed ALL the daily re-JUNE-venate tasks, even if their names weren't drawn for one of the original prizes. We increased the "Speedbumps only" drawing prize amount to $4 and the remaining players who completed all tasks (minus the dreaded Flowers of Inconvenience) are being awarded a $3 GC for their participation. Thanks for your enthusiasm and participation! We hope your scrapbooking was re-JUNE-venated over the course of the month and encourage you to keep up the super scrapbooking you've been doing!

$10 Gift Certificate

RosemaryS
Princessrunningfingers
tinkerbell11

$5 Gift Certificate

Reminiscing
siskitkat

$4 Gift Certificate

CheriT
kayoft

$3 Gift Certificate

Julie-Scrapaholic
Vaughnde

Congratulations to our contest winners! Please email [email protected] to get your prize, if you haven't already received it. Thanks for participating!

FREE STARTER KIT

Free eBook "starter kit" turns your dreams of digital scrapbooking into reality today!

This dynamite eBook is 65 pages - packed full of the information, ideas, and help people need when they are about to dive into this great hobby. It answers all of the important questions new digital scrapbookers have. They are all here for you - in one easy to use eBook!

Bonus! Download the free "Warning" Label, too. It was created for you by Valerie Randall as a little bit of extra fun!

Would you like a chance to try digital scrapbooking yourself?

Scrap Girls' Refresh Collection Biggie offers you free samples of some of our most popular product types. Try making a layout, your own paper with a ScrapSimple Paper Template, a fast layout with a ScrapSimple Digital Layout Template, or experiment with a brush.

We know you'll love digital scrapbooking as much as we do, and we have thousands of products to feed your new addiction!

Ready to Take Off? In-depth Tutorials Help You Become a Great Digital Scrapbooker

Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed!

NEWLY UPDATED! Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Photoshop CS4, CS3, CS2, and CS
NEWLY UPDATED! Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Photoshop Elements 6.0 and 7.0*
Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed for Paint Shop Pro X (XI)

(*Have Photoshop Elements 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0? We have a tutorial program that will work for you. Please visit the product details page for more information.)

Find out what tens of thousands of people have already learned: Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed is the fastest way to learn how to create digital scrapbooking layouts. And because this series covers so many topics with one purchase, it is a bargain!

In the tutorials, you'll see Ro working on her computer and hear her talking about why she is doing what she is doing. It's like having Ro come to your home and give you private scrapbooking lessons. You can create digital scrapbooking layouts today!

Download and CD versions available.

Photoshop and Photoshop Elements users receive:

30-31 movie tutorials
Companion eBook(s)
Collections
Other supplies

Paint Shop Pro users receive 31 movie tutorials.

MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed!

MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed! for Adobe Photoshop
MORE Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed! for Adobe Photoshop Elements

It's time for you to stop playing catch-up in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements and start having a blast creating your own digital scrapbooking supplies! You'll also learn all sorts of tricks that professionals and advanced digital scrapbookers use in their layouts. And because Ro covers so many topics in the series, it is one of the most cost-effective methods of moving your skills to a higher level. Join in with the thousands of digital scrapbookers who have chosen to learn advanced skills from Ro. You'll be happy that you did!

Note: These are NOT beginning tutorials. If you get this training and you have never used Photoshop or Photoshop Elements before, or if you aren't pretty sure of yourself in the software, you are going to be lost. You simply have to understand layers, where things are located, and all of the basic, important skills that Ro teaches in her Scrapbook Software Secrets Revealed series before you try to use it.

eBooks

Scrap Girls offers a large catalog of eBooks covering topics that will expand your digital scrapbooking abilities to new heights. Here are just a few samples:

The Virtual Canvas eBook

What happens when you move digital scrapbooking beyond the basic page? What happens when you allow the layout to blur the edges between keepsake and art? The Virtual Canvas: Celebrating The Art of Digital Scrapbooking eBook will provide those answers for you.

Digital Photography Simplified

Colour (me) Creative eBook with 36 color swatches

Scrapbooking 911 - 20 Sketches to Revialize Your Digital

Start to Finish eBooklets

Start to Finish eBooklet - PSE: Making a Just Because Card Using ScrapSimple Card Templates

Nothing could be simpler than learning to scrapbook digitally with Scrap Girls Start to Finish eBooklets. Step by step written guidelines and detailed screenshots will help you learn new digital scrapbooking skills. Included with the eBooklet are the actual digital files you need to create a finished project!

See more titles

Layout by Ariadna Wiczling
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Designer Freebie by Ariadna Wiczling coordinates with her Fleeting Moments Collection Biggie

Commercial license versions of Dynamic Brush Set: Paper Piercing 8201, Brush Set: Stamped Dates and AMC_Chalk Talk Font are also available.

* There is a "free download" button on the details page for each gift. You don't need to put them in your shopping cart unless you are shopping for other items. Also note that if you are slow reading your newsletter, you may find this freebie has already been retired, as the freebies are only available as gifts for about two newsletter cycles.

CROPS AND CHATS

Aussie Chat & Challenge
Monday, July 27th - 9:00PM Australian Eastern Time

Please join Jo (scrappingjo) and Karen (kazbar73) on Monday 27 July for our next edition of the Aussie Chat and Challenge. We will meet in the Chat Rom Lobby at 9.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time for a Template Challenge. Look through your stash of Scrap Girls products and find your favourite template or maybe look through the Boutique and find a new template. Use that template to create a layout then and than join us in the chat room. For our International ladies, the chat will start at 7am New York time.

Life Moments Chat
Tuesday, July 28th - 3:00PM ET

Please join Sherry_Lynn on July 28th at 3pm ET for the next installment of our Life Moments Chat and Crop! These crops are about building a scrapbook all about you, one layout at a time. I'm looking forward to seeing you there!

High Noon Crop
Wednesday, July 29th - 12:00Noon ET

Join your guest host April Showers for the High Noon Crop every Wednesday at Noon ET. These crops are designed to allow you to work on your own photos and themes, simply giving participants a one hour goal, and a fun, new challenge each week! On July 29th, we'll do a "Use Your Stash" challenge! Create a layout using a collection you've had for a while, but just haven't used yet! You'd be amazed what you can get done in just one hour! We hope you'll join us!

Desktop Challenge Crop
Wednesday, July 29th - 8:00PM ET

Are you bored with the simple backgrounds that your PC or MAC came with? Want to learn more about using your Scrap Girls products to make exciting and colorful new desktop wallpapers? Join Angela (angelaNussbaum) and Becca at 8pm ET (5pm for those of you on the west coast!) for this month's Desktop Crop. A few hours before chat time, we'll give you some details on how to get started, plus a technique challenge and a theme for an extra dose of motivation!

What's New Chat
Friday, July 30th - 11:00AM ET

Join Michelle (Shelbi) and Sherry Lynn at 11am ET Friday morning to chat about all the cool new things in the boutique. You never know who else is going to show up! What are you getting? What did you kaboodle? And most importantly, show us the layouts or other projects you made with your new goodies! There's a thread every Thursday and now there's a chat too!

NSBR Chat
Tuesday, August 3rd - 9:00PM ET

What is NSBR? It's a non-scrapbooking related chat! We talk about everything, including some scrapbooking and usually chocolate. It's a great chance to meet new friends, catch up on what everyone is up to, and just relax! If you have a problem, we'll lend an ear or a shoulder to cry on. Have some great news to share? We'd love to celebrate with you. So join Carla (CRS) on August 3rd at 9pm ET in the chat room!

JULY EVENTS

July Message Board Game: Hide and Seek!

Join us this month on the Message Board for a month long game of “Hide and Seek!” The designers have each chosen their favorite product that they've designed and it's your task to find each one! Every day from July 1-31 a member of the Welcoming Committee will post up a designer's name (or two!) and a clue to their personal favorite product that they've designed. You'll get a special peek into the minds and inspiration of the Scrap Girls designers as you search for their favorites contained in the boutique. When you find the correct product, you'll know it because a special little sunny marker will be waiting for you to let you know “You found it!”

Compile a list of links to the correct products throughout the month and send the list to [email protected] by August 1st at 11:59 p.m. (MST) for your chance to win a prize! Everyone who finds all THIRTY-SEVEN products will have their name added into a drawing for one of seven $5 gift certificates to the Scrap Girls boutique! Happy hunting, enjoy getting to know your designers and HAVE FUN!

Layout Contests:

July Monthly Layout Contest: In the good ole summertime, we see lots of lightning. Summertime also brings out the fun side of friends and family members. For the July Monthly Layout Contest, we want to see your layouts featuring photos of lightning or scrap someone with an electric personality! Post your layouts in the July Monthly Layout Contest Gallery before July 31st at Midnight, EDT. The winning layout will receive a $10 gift certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique! Be sure to include the credits for items used in the description area or under the Details tab.

July Mid-Month Layout Contest: Ah, vacations! They're so relaxing and fun, but can be expensive, too. For the Mid-July Layout Contest, we want to see your layouts featuring your vacation or staycation photos! If you don't have any vacation plans, what will you do instead? Scrap those plans! Post you layouts in the Mid-July Monthly Layout Gallery before August 15th at Midnight, EDT and you could win a $10 gift certificate to the Scrap Girls Boutique. Be sure to include the credits for items used in the description area or under the Details tab. Good Luck!

Check our message board calendar if you have any questions about what is happening at Scrap Girls. All event times are given in Eastern Time Zone unless otherwise noted. Need help converting time zones? Check out the World Clock - Time Zone Converter. (Use 'USA-New York' as the location for the Eastern time zone.)